KENTUCKY — On this week’s program, we are bringing you the sights and sounds from an area in our state that some consider a hidden gem, as it relates to travel, tourism and Kentucky history. 

We’re talking about the small community of Stearns. That’s in McCreary County, in the southern part of the state, about three hours south of Louisville and right along the Kentucky/Tennesee border.

Stearns, like so many communities in Eastern Kentucky in the early part of the 20th century, the coal industry was their lifeline. Eventually and over decades, the coal mines closed and once thriving Kentucky towns now are faced with years of decline and hardship.

Recently multimedia journalist Jonathan Gregg traveled to Stearns to learn how people living in the area are preserving their coal mining history and actually giving the community of just over a thousand people new hope for their future.

Also during this segment, Kentucky State Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, joins the program to discuss the significance of redistricting, as the city of Stearns and McCreary County were added to his legislative district back in 2022, as a result of redistricting maps that were adopted by the Republican supermajority that controls the General Assembly.

Stivers also shares other ways that state lawmakers are hoping to revive small Kentucky towns through economic development grants and tax incentives.

You can watch the full In Focus Kentucky segment in the player above.